The new science complex at Riverdale High School includes three science labs, two classrooms, a preparation space, and an exterior science yard. An amphitheater defines the entry courtyard while allowing for outdoor learning. Large overhangs above each classroom and lab will provide protection from the elements. The West face of the building is clad with perforated metal deck screens to provide sun protection. read more »

The CMU walls alone are not strong enough to support the girders framing out the high roof. Hollow structural steel (HSS) columns are placed within the CMU cells for additional strength at each girder line. The high roof girders frame directly to the HSS columns, while the low roof beams/girders frame into the CMU wall.
The entry feature is framed with curved HSS beams for wind resistance and light gauge steel studs for infill framing read more »

The gymnasium building includes locker rooms, class rooms, offices and a snack bar. The gym’s barrel is framed using beams spaced at an astonishing 20’ on center thank to a 16 gauge 3” deep deck.
The concrete tilt-up wall panels were poured on site and lifted into place by a crane. The largest wall panel weights over 45 tons. read more »

Immediately outstanding are the 30 foot tall pipe columns at the east of the building. These columns support a large canopy that shields the building from the sun and rain. In the late afternoon, the canopy becomes a work of art, casting a shadow across the face of the building that spells out “CLARK”. read more »

Taking on a project of this size and scope displayed the capabilities of the Brook Ransom office. With a growing team of engineers having an in-depth knowledge of BIM software, each building had its own team of engineers and Revit modelers.
The Education Center is divided into two main regions; the Multipurpose/Gym along with the Locker Room and the Classroom/Admin. Each area was designed to be built in multiple phases, but still appear to be one seamless structure. This created multiple design difficulties, but the teams were able to rise to the challenge.
In Design / Construction:
Construction of the Gym and Locker rooms are complete
The Classroom and Administration buildings are in the process of being constructed
The Multipurpose Room has yet to start construction read more »

The complex consists of a snack bar, classroom, and restroom/changing room facility. The pool’s pump room includes several concrete pits—as deep as 12 feet—to house pumps and other equipment. To provide the owner with cost saving options, Revit’s Design Options tool was utilized to provide three different variations of the complex. read more »

Hoover High School is well on its way on changing the look of its campus. With the design of its new two story classroom addition by HMC Architects, the corner of Fresno Street and Barstow Avenue will never look the same. Exposed structural steel framing and steel deck will be seen in all rooms, giving the project a modern look inside and out. Just about every piece of steel is exposed. Many hours were spent developing requirements for exposed welds and orientation of bolted connections. Did you know steel tubes have a seam? Brooks Ransom coordinated the direction that the seams would need to be directed so the finished surface of the exposed steel would be “seamless”.
This addition includes 12 new classrooms and 4 laboratory rooms with state of the art equipment to help facilitate in the education of its students. read more »

Winner of the 2012 ASCE Structural Engineering Project of the Year. Willaim Jessup University was originally located in the San Jose area. The university purchased an abandoned manufacturing facility in Placer County and wanted to convert the warehouse building into a combined Dining, Athletic, and Music facility.
To create an open-air courtyard, the roof plywood and secondary framing were removed. Existing roof framing was covered with sheet metal for protection from weather. Additionally, 3 columns were removeed to create the open space required for a basketball court. They were replaced by a 140' long space truss to support the roof. read more »

This fast-track school project was designed for the Fresno Unified School District in only seven weeks. The project incorporated seismic joints at various locations to reduce the analysis complexities of the “boomerang” shaped structure. Design was completed such that the kindergarten wing can be placed at either end of the main structure. The two-story lateral analysis was conducted using a 3-D finite element model. read more »

Several structures make up this unique campus located in north Fresno with the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the backdrop. The classroom wing is 470 feet long with three rotation pivot points in the plan that provided structural design challenges. The entrance canopy at the administration building also generated several structural design and constructability challenges. The canopy overhang reaches out 23' from the building wall. Structural steel built up members were used to support the overhang with pipe braces used for wind uplift considerations. To stabilize this entire structure, approximately 16 tons of steel was needed. Structural HSS columns and vertical braces were utilized to accomplish this design challenge. read more »

The UC Merced Garden Suites and Lakeview Dining Project was a fast-track design build in conjunction with Mauldin Dorfmeier Construction and The Taylor Group Architects. This project is registered with U.S. Green Building Council and is pursuing a silver LEEDTM certification for incorporation of green building practices such as utilizing a high volume fly ash concrete mixture for the foundations. read more »

This project is unique in that our office was hired to assist the designing A/E firm with structural design for the more complicated campus structures. As such it required high level coordination of standard detailing to blend the structural drawings from the two offices into one seamless package. read more »

With a sprawling plan, this building serves several functions for the school. Included inside is a multi-purpose room, kitchen, snack bar, staff dining room, music hall, library, and administration offices. With the various uses came several plan complexities with varying roof heights and exterior architectural features, all blended together in one integral structure. read more »